The present invention relates to a storage system, and relates in particular to a method for classifying a plurality of XML documents stored in a storage system, especially for a file view generation method for facilitating hierarchical classifying of documents based on the contents, and a graphical user interface therefor (hereinafter referred to as a GUI).
Generally, files stored in a storage system, which uses storage means such as a hard disk, NAS (Network Attached Storage) or RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks storage), are sorted into folders (directories) and provided as a view by a file system such as FAT, NTFS, CIFS, UNIX ™ file system and NFS. In the view provided in common by these file systems, the folders are hierarchically arranged in a tree structure, and to select an arbitrary file, a user enters as an instruction for an operating system a path (to a location), through the hierarchical structure of a file system, in the hierarchical structure, that extends from the vertex to the file. The user can sort and store a plurality of files in each folder prepared in the hierarchical structure.
However, for a classifying method that mainly employs locations, a user must appropriately determine the contents of a file and arrange it in the correct folder, and must also correctly remember the hierarchical structure for the folders that have been prepared. Generally, as the number of files is increased, the hierarchical structure for the folders becomes complicated and it is difficult for a user to remember, and when the user incorrectly determines the contents or the arrangement to be used for a file, finding the file becomes extremely difficult.
Furthermore, when the conventional classifying method is used, once files have been classified, rearranging them, from a different viewpoint, is troublesome. For example, when files classified into folders for a file creator are to be rearranged in accordance with creation dates and types, new folders must be prepared and files rearranged and classified in the new folders by copying the files or by establishing links.
In addition, to identify a file arranged in a different computer on a network, the name of the computer must be specified. Since the computer wherein a file is arranged is changed in accordance with the backup function and the migration function of the storage system, a conventional classifying method that mainly employs locations can not cope with these functions.
As another method for classifying files in accordance with the file contents, regardless of their locations, a file search technique is available for performing a full-text keyword search. However, since this technique does not take into consideration the meaning of the keyword, files can merely be sorted in accordance with whether the keyword is present/absent.
It is predicted that XML (eXtensible Markup Language) documentation, such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), for data will be promoted as Web service is expanded. Because with XML documentation data meanings of data are provided by using tags, and for a file access method contents are designated, a higher function than the full-text keyword search function is expected.
The standard specifications, such as XPath (http://www.w3.org/TR/path20/) and XQuery (http://www.w3.org/XML/Query), are present as methods for describing a search form for XML. Further, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2001/0049675 titled “FILE SYSTEM WITH ACCESS AND RETRIEVAL OF XML DOCUMENTS”, disclosed is a file view providing a method whereby the overall grammatical structure of an XML document is obtained by mapping it onto a similar hierarchical folder structure in a file system.